Dr. Seuss Playroom

Oh, the THINKS you can THINK! Have you ever dreamed of having a bedroom/playroom painted with wild and colorful characters? I have had this dream since I was a young girl. I just moved into a beautiful home with a dedicated playroom, so my fantasy finally became a realistic project. Books are the best way to get inspiration for children's rooms and I have been a Seuss-lover my whole life. Seriously, who doesn't love Seuss?!

I'm not going to lie, this project was a pink-tuffed-who-BEAST. Since my husband was dying to mount his new projector (never to be removed again) in our new home theater, I was in a time-crunch (meaning, get it done asap). I worked while the kids were sleeping--a 2-3 hour nap during the day and 7pm-12/1am. Painting 6-10 hours a day for a week and a half was very stressful and I would not recommend doing it this fast to anyone.

SEUSS in 6 eAsY Steps!

I know all of you don't have access to a projector, but you might be able to snag the office projector for a few nights, or perhaps rent one locally. For pictures as well-known as Seuss, I wouldn't recommend free-hand for most people.

Free-hand or project your background, if any. Project your images and trace onto the wall. Try to keep the projector straight-on with the wall so your image is not distorted. Keep in mind your whole room plan and size your images accordingly.

Color in the lines. It's like a giant coloring book (that makes you ache and convulse after a few hours...only 68 hours to go!).

"Pet" before black lines.
Pet after black lines. See how important they are for the final look? "Brush, brush. Comb, comb. All girls who like to brush and comb should have a pet like this at home." (One Fish, Two Fish)

Go, dog, go!

Up, Pup. Pup is up. (Hop on Pop)

Three fish in a tree. How can that be? (Hop on Pop)

Hop, hop, we like to hop. We like to hop on top of Pop. STOP!!! (Husband is living proof of this)

Are you my Mother? (Yes, I know Seuss didn't illustrate this book, but it's part of the Seuss series)

Horton the Elephant
Beft who always walk left (Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!)

The Grinch, after his heart grew three sizes
Thing 1 and 2 (I have these in my house and I can tell you that kites aren't the only things that can break lamps and cause utter destruction)
Foot juggler (Foot Book)
Sheep who walk in their sleep (One Fish, Two Fish)

AND since this project was supposed to be about organization, here's my toy organization.
Martha Stewart cubbies from Home Depot.

Dress-up clothes wardrobe from IKEA.

Toy drawers from IKEA.

Thanks for joining me in my world of Seuss. Best of luck with your painting projects!

Wow. This was great, except that it made me feel very delinquent in several areas: (1) lack of artistry, and (2) home-size. Good for you for finishing the project, too! Maybe someday I'll be ambitious enough to do just one of my children's bedroom walls. :-)

So sorry, I didn't see your question, Allison. The table and chair set is from IKEA. There are many different color combinations. I also love the Disney fold-up chair and table sets. They are great for meal time or crafts.

Oh my dear, "the places you'll go...", and take your husband and kids with you!Amazing. No, really, really amazing!Sara has got to see this! She is just brave enough to try something like this too.Thank you, as always, for blowing my mind!Love you

Can I ask what type of paint you used for all of those different colors? Also, did you project the images again to do the black outlining/ detail or did you do that freehand? I'm contemplating doing something similar to this... Call me crazy!!

Sorry Anonymous--didn't see your comment. My favorite line of pain is Home Depot's Behr. I used that in a satin finish for all of the big work (grass, sky, white clouds). The tricky part was all of the detail pain color. Since it is expensive to buy the quart size (that you get to choose the sheen) for only a little bit of paint, I opted for buying the sample sizes for just a few dollars each. These were much more vibrant than getting little bottles of acrylic paint from a craft store (Behr is meant for walls, acrylic is not). The Behr (or any other home improvement store wall paint) sample sizes are matte, so to give them a bit of satin sheen, I used my satin white wall paint, which I already had in 1/2 gal size. It also gave the colors more of a pastel hue that I loved. The only trick with this is that your paint colors are now custom and if something needs to be touched up, you'll have to repaint that whole area (but since this is relatively small detail work with the sample paint, it shouldn't be a big task. I hope this made sense. Good luck!

How did you decide what colors to use? Did you take the books with you to HD for them to color match? How many colors did you buy in all? Do you have the list of colors you used? I am attempting this for our kids basement playroom. Your step by step guide was very helpful! Thanks for sharing